American imports, Book of the Week, new releases

Book of the Week: The Tumbling Turner Sisters

veritywilde

Sometimes I sit for ages and think about what I’m going to pick for my Book of the Week, but sometimes I just know.  This week is one of the latter – by the time I was halfway through The Tumbling Turner Sisters I was fairly sure it was going to be this week’s pick. And that was on Tuesday.  Sure enough, here it is.

It’s 1919 and Gert, Winnie, Kit and Nell end up performing a vaudeville gymnastics act to try and make ends meet after their father injures his hand and is unable to work as a boot-stitcher.  As they travel around the US they experience the highs and lows of show business, make new friends, encounter prejudice and the seedier side of life.  Told by Winnie and Gert, you see them grow up as well as their differing perspectives on life on tour.

I love historical novels and I’m always looking for new authors who write good ones.  I’ve never read any of Juliette Fay’s books before – although reading the blurbs for them on Goodreads, this looks like it’s not precisely like any of her previous books anyway. This reminded me in some ways of Laurie Graham – who I love – it’s not laugh out loud funny as her characters often are, but there’s a similar tone and slightly sardonic world view.

I  really enjoyed this and although I had a few reservations about the end – which I won’t go into here because spoilers – they weren’t enough to annoy me and drive my overall impression of the book down.  I’ll be looking out for more from Juliette Fay – and maybe working my way through some of her back catalogue too.

You can get The Tumbling Turner Sisters from Amazon – but it’s only in hardcover and it’s not on Kindle at the moment, so I suspect it’s an American import.  Sorry. I try not to do this, but I really did enjoy this so much I wanted to write about it.  I’ll try and pick something easy to find next week!

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: June 13 – June 19

veritywilde

I can’t work out whether I did well this week or not.  Ok in numbers, the amount of books I read is not that big, but several of them were quite chunky books so I’ve actually done a lot of pages – over 2500 pages in fact.  But is that good or not?  I don’t usually add up pages, so I have no idea, and I don’t have the time (or inclination) to go back and add it up for a representative number of weeks.  My Goodread stats average out at just over 2000 pages a week for this year so far, and just over 2100 a week for the whole of last year – but I know that there are always some books that I’ve read that don’t have a good reads page count so won’t have made it into the total.  But hey, on that basis, I’ve done well – because the 2500+ figure doesn’t include the half of the Mary-Jo Putney that I read on the train on Sunday evening…

Read:

Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

The Tumbling Turner Sisters by Juliette Fay

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Stormswept by Sabrina Jeffries writing as Deborah Martin

From Pasta to Pigfoot: Second Helpings by Frances Mensah Williams

Wedding Bells for Nurse Connie by Jean Fullerton

Started:

Once a Soldier by Mary-Jo Putney

Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins by James Runcie

Still reading:

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

I pre-ordered Eloisa James’s upcoming novella, but that’s it.  I’m trying to be restrained…

Uncategorized

Book of the Week: Naked in Death

veritywilde

A somewhat brief and atypical BotW this week as it was a bit of a strange week in reading – a holiday where I didn’t read as much as usual, and where a fair bit of what I read exasperated me.  I would have chosen Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant, but it’s only a few weeks since I picked Beneath a Silent Moon which is the same series and which I enjoyed more – not least because I’m used to Malcolm and Suzanne being called Charles and Mélanie and it really confused me – for the backstory, see my previous post.

So by default almost, Naked in Death is the BotW.  I haven’t read a lot of Nora Roberts – although she writes these as J R Robb (authors writing under different names clearly a theme this week) – and many people on the various romance sites I frequent have raved about her and suggested her.  I read her latest romantic suspense last year (The Liar, which I reviewed for Novelicious) and quite enjoyed it, so I thought her long running detective-centric romantic suspense series might be a good choice as I’m not a huge straight contemporary romance reader.

And I quite enjoyed it – it certainly kept me turning the pages – right up until I finished it just as the plane arrived on the stand at Gatwick on the way home.  It’s a little too gritty for me and Roarke is a little too close to the controlling manipulative billionaire trope that I hate, but I was intrigued to see what happened next and who was responsible for the crime.  Eve gets points for being a strong woman who is good at her job (if you can discount sleeping with a suspect, which you kinda can, mostly, but the paragraph I wrote explaining why spoils the plot, although I’m sure you can work it out) and I quite liked the futuristic world she lives in – contrary to all my expectations when I realised it wasn’t set in the here and now.

But I’m not rushing out to glom on the rest of the series – if a few come my way, then I’m sure I’ll read them, but there’s enough really good stuff on the pile already (and waiting for me in bookshops!) that it can wait.  And I won’t be devastated if I don’t read them in order – or really at all.  So that’s why I say this is a bit of an unusual book of the week.  There was nothing I read that I wanted to rave about, and having written this, I’m not expecting you to rush out to by Naked in Death on the strength of my review.  But hey, I’ve been lucky to get this far without having a week like this.  If I could have got another book in to rave about I would have done – I tried, but the romance I was hoping was going to fix the problem turned out not to be the solution and I ran out of time.  Here’s hoping normal service will be resumed next week…

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: June 6 – June 12

veritywilde

On holiday this week (and last week for that matter) but family wedding, visiting more family and sightseeing means not a lot of reading done by my standards – and certainly not as much as I’d’ve done on a beach holiday!

Read:

Wildflower Bay Part 1 by Rachel Lucas

Goodbye Mrs Chips by Dorothy Cannell

Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant

Naked in Death by (Nora Roberts writing as) J D Robb

Bury Her Deep by Catriona McPherson

Unnatural Fire by Fidelis Morgan

Started:

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

Still reading:

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

I pre-ordered Gail Carriger’s first self-published novella and a copy of Vita Sackville-West’s The Edwardians…

 

Book of the Week, crime, new releases

Book of the Week: The White Cottage Mystery

veritywilde

We’re back in classic crime territory for the week’s BotW – although it’s a bit of a cheat as this is a reissue of whole book – Margery Allingham’s The White Cottage Mystery – but it is excellent and it gives me a great chance to talk about an author who I think is a bit neglected.

This is a tricksy and intriguing standalone mystery which sees a policeman and his son trying to solve the murder of a particularly nasty neighbour. Jerry happens upon the scene of the crime and soon has his Scotland Yard detective father involved.  This was originally a serialised book (just like some of Harriet Vane’s novels in my beloved Peter Wimsey) and you can really tell from the pacing and multiple cliffhangers. There is a clever drip feed of clues which method you turning the pages, and although I had suspicions about the culprit, it wasn’t until quite late on that I worked it all out.

This was my first non-Campion Allingham and it didn’t disappoint. I usually prefer my detective books to be part of a series (I prefer Miss Marple and Poirot to Christie’s other books) but this was a pleasant surprise. But then it’s not that different in style to the Campion series, you could almost swap the leads for Albert and his son and it would nearly work (except that Albert is not a cop) and that totally works for me! In case you haven’t met Allingham’s most famous creation,  Albert Campion is the younger scion of a noble family, who uses an assumed name and solves mysteries with the help of his faithful manservant and police officer friend. Sound familiar? Well that’s because it supposedly started as a Lord Peter Wimsey parody, but developed into much, much more (an BBC ran for much longer). Albert’s Bunter equivalent is a reformed (ish) criminal and Campion end up being much older than Peter.  They’re also more adventure stories than detective, most of the time you don’t have a chance of working out the solution to Campion’s cases but they’re such great fun you don’t care.

I discovered Margery Allingham when I was living in Essex – where she still had a large presence in their libraries as a local author, even though she’d been dead 40 years at that point. I devoured as many of them as I could lay my hands on, and although the series has its ups and downs, I defy you not to like them if you’re a fan of Wimsey, Marple and Poirot or even adventure stories like Amelia Peabody or Vicky Bliss. It’s not the first one, but start with Sweet Danger and I defy you not to get hooked.

My copy of The White Cottage Mystery can via NetGalley, but you can buy it in paperback from Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones  or on Kindle. You should also be able to find new or secondhand copies of Albert Campion too.   Don’t blame me for the spending spree that will ensue though…

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: May 30 – June 5

veritywilde

 I thought I would read more this week, but best laid plans etc. Still some really good stuff in there, and some less so!

Read:

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham

Fixin’ to Die by Tonya Kappes

Murder on a Designer Diet by Shawn Reilly Simmons

The Madness of Mercury by Connie Di Marco

A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn

Oliver Twisted by Cindy Brown

Started:

Unnatural Fire by Fidelis Morgan

Goodbye Mrs Chips by Dorothy Cannell

Still reading:

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Bury Her Deep by Catriona McPherson

 Still no books bought. I’m trying really, really hard! 

books, stats

May Stats

veritywilde

New books read this month: 35*

Books from the to-read pile: 15

Ebooks read: 17

Books from the Library book pile: 1

Non-fiction books: 1

Most read author: Lorna Hill

Books read this year: 146

Books bought: None (except travel guides which don’t count)

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 452 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)

 

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (1 this month)

Book of the Week, non-fiction, reviews

Book of the Week: Pretty Honest

veritywilde

A different pick this week for BotW as it’s a beauty book.  I’ve had Pretty Honest on the shelf for a while – and have dipped in and out and read bits here and there (and bought a copy as a present for 13 year old cousin after reading the teen beauty section).  But the last week or two I sat myself down and read it from cover to cover.  And it’s really good.

Sali Hughes is a beauty writer and journalist.  This is here guide to all things beauty, make up and grooming and it’s really, really good.  It covers pretty much everything – from skin care routines and the best makeup routine for the train to bridal make-up, post-baby beauty and how to look the best you can in pretty much every circumstance.

It’s heavy on text, not on pictures, but I didn’t feel like I needed a storyboard to work out what Sali was telling me.  It’s a little bit having a funny mate who knows everything about looking amazing chatting to you to help you and stop you making stupid mistakes.  And unlike some beauty manuals I’ve read, it’s not trying to turn out clones of the writer.  Sali may prefer red lippy, but she’s not going to force it on you.  She just wants you to know how to do your chosen look the best you can – and be totally confident about it in the process.  What’s not to love?

In fact the only downside of Pretty Honest is that I now have a list of extra things that I want to buy and know I need to do a clear out of my make up and beauty drawer(s)!  I reckon you should be able to get Pretty Honest at any good bookshop.  My copy is a very giftable (and Sali has ideas about that too which I may implement) hardback – but it’s out in paperback now too.  For your ease and convienience, here’s a link to the pretty pink paperback on Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones – all three also have the hardback too.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: May 23 – May 29

veritywilde

This week started quite slowly – but ratcheted up at the end as I finished some books that had been on the go for a while (because they were hardbacks not because they weren’t any good).

Read:

Act Like It by Lucy Parker

It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Dead is Better by Jo Perry

Lucia in London by E F Benson

Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Started:

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Bury Her Deep by Catriona McPherson

Still reading:

n/a

And I didn’t buy any books either.  Go me.  I’d be impressed with myself, except that I’m fairly sure it’s not going to last.

 

Book of the Week, cozy crime, detective, new releases

Book of the Week: Death of a Nobody

veritywilde

The Fahrenheit Book Club subscription comes up trumps again – this time with Derek Farrell’s Death of a Nobody – the second book in the Danny Bird series.  You may remember me raving about Death of a Diva in my Easter Recommendations post but as it didn’t get a BotW then, it means I can do this one now – Hurrah.

So, to fill you in.  Danny Bird runs a pub in South London.  He hopes it’s an up and coming gastro pub, after his attempt to turn it into a gay bar resulted in a corpse.  Sadly he’s being hampered the fact that the pub’s owned by a mobster, who has also foisted an unwilling and unpaid extra employee on him. On top of this they’ve got a post-funeral do to cater for a local girl turned Lady.  Danny’s already been asked to investigate some poison pen letters when a corpse turns up in the loo.  Soon he, Lady Caroline, the Asbo Twins and the gang are in the midst of a murder mystery in high(ish) society.

What I really like about these books is the humour.  It’s snarky and caustic and everyone gets some great zingers.  My favourite in this one is possible when Caz describes Danny as “Poirot on poppers” – which made me attract attention to myself on the train by snorting with laughter.  It’s not graphic or violent – the gore level is pretty much cozy crime – but this is much more fun and sly than stories about bakers or home decorators or country policemen.  Imagine a Gay Stephanie Plum was running a pub instead of chasing criminals, but kept stumbling across bodies and you’re sort of kind of half way there.  Maybe.

And the supporting cast are a hoot too. The dynamic between the pub’s workers is a joy – and the gang have everything you need to make you laugh – a posh bird, the Asbo twins (who do exactly what they say on the tin), a hard boiled bar managed and a gangster’s spoilt little princess with her own criminal tendencies.  If that doesn’t sell it to you I don’t know what will.

Get your copy from Kindle or if you like the sound of it and Death of a Diva and the Sam Jones series, then you might want to look at the Fahrenheit Press Book Club – for a stream of crime fiction appearing through your inbox through the year.